One Problem After Another
by TayAnn961
Summary: The team are sent to recover a mysterious substance, believed to be made by KORPS. When an accident causes events to take a turn for the worst, it is a race against time to stop the effects of substance X14 taking their toll.
1. Chapter 1

"Hurry!" Dan shouted, as Tom, Aneisha and Keri ran through the corridors of the massive KORPS base. Dan now faced the task of fighting the group of KORPS agents alone, as the others were preoccupied carrying a massive glass container.

The team had been sent to a KORPS base earlier that day to recover a glass container filled with a mysterious substance. M.I.9 had called the substance X14, as they didn't know what it was yet. They believed that it was a KORPS creation, but they couldn't be sure.

Dan had now thrown the last KORPS agent to the ground, and directed the rest of the team to a big room near the exit, before rushing in himself and locking the door. "Team, what's happening?" Frank said over the communicator. He was back in HQ with Stella working on comms, as it was such a big mission Tom had been sent on the field too. "We have recovered X14 and we are on our way out" Dan said. Tom, Aneisha and Keri put the glass container down on the floor to avoid dropping it, and Tom immediately started to unlock the big, metal door that stood between them and the outside world. Suddenly there was a strange beeping noise, and the team stared at each other in shock. "Oh no..." Stella whispered. They all knew what the noise was, and no one wanted to hear it. "Where is it" Keri whispered, hardly daring to move or even breathe. Then, the noise. It was unimaginably loud, and the four agents all felt the impact as they were blasted backwards.


	2. Chapter 2

(Tom's POV)

All I felt was pain.

None of us knew where the bomb was but I was sure it was near me, as the force that blasted me off my feet was huge.

I went flying backwards and hit something hard behind my head. Suddenly the unknown object smashed and I felt sharp glass digging into my head and arms.

There was blood dripping down my forehead and I felt so tired.

The amount of smoke meant that I couldn't see anyone else from the position I was in, and it hurt to much to lift my head.

There was fire too, and it felt like I was burning.

Then I heard a crumbling noise above me and part of the ceiling fell on me, and everything went dark.

(Frank's POV)

I was running to the KORPS base with Stella, desperately trying to get some response from the team.

We reached the big, grey building in less than ten minutes and Stella managed to open the door.

We ran in, and were immediately met by a scene of utter destruction.

There was smoke everywhere, and parts of the wall and ceiling were strewn around over what remained of the floor.

Stella saw Dan lying in the corner and rushed to his aid.

"Dan...Dan!" Stella said. "Mmm...What?" Dan said, as he struggled to sit up. "Are you alright?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a bit cut and bruised" Dan said. "Where are the others?" He asked.

"I've found Aneisha!" Stella said from across the room. Dan and I ran across to them and Dan shook Aneisha to wake her up.

"Neish" Dan said quietly. "What is it?" Aniesha mumbled. "She's okay" Dan said standing up.

"Can you see Keri or Tom anywhere?" I asked. "No" Stella said quietly. I could tell she was scared and worried about the agents.

"It'll be alright" I said to her, and pulled her into a hug. She suddenly pulled away from me.

"What is it?" I asked. "Look, over there!" Stella said. She dashed over to the other side of the room and knelt down next to Keri.

She wasn't responding when we talked to her, and when we tried to move her, there was lots of blood running down her arm. "Where's Tom?" I said.

I was worried about him, as he was the only one still missing. Dan turned and stared at the huge pile of rubble across the room.

"Please don't tell me he's in there..." He said.


	3. Chapter 3

(Dan's POV)

I ran up to the pile of rubble and started to throw broken pieces of the wall and ceiling across the room.

I had to find Tom. He was one of my best friends and he needed help.

Frank joined me in my search and started to destroy the pile of rubble. I looked over to my left and saw a hand sticking out of the rubble.

I ran over and pulled the bricks away revealing Tom. I froze in shock. He looked worse than any of us, and he was unconscious.

There was blood dripping down his face and neck, and he looked really pale.

The others ran over to me, and looked equally shocked at what they saw. Stella quickly phoned an ambulance for Keri and Tom, before walking over to me.

"Dan where's substance X14?" She asked. "I don't know" I stammered.

"It was on the floor before, but I don't know what happened to it". Stella looked at me and sighed.

She knew now was not the time to shout, but I could tell she was getting annoyed. "Look!" Aneisha exclaimed from Tom's side.

We ran over to her and stared at us. "What is it?" I asked her. Aneisha looked really scared and she turned back to Tom.

She gently moved his head to the side and revealed what was behind it. It was the shattered glass container of substance X14.

"Oh no..." Stella said. We all knew this was a massive problem. X14 could have any effect on Tom, and it could be life threatening.

All of a sudden the ambulance arrived, and Stella walked away to talk to the staff. Keri and Tom were lifted onto stretchers and put into the back of the ambulance. Frank went with them, and Stella directed Aneisha and I to a car outside.

"I'll take you to the hospital" she said.


	4. Chapter 4

(Frank's POV)

I went in the ambulance with Tom and Keri whilst Stella followed with the others in her car.

When we were about halfway there, Keri's hand started to move. "Keri" I said. "What happened?" She asked, trying to sit up. "Stay still" I said.

"There was an explosion" I told her. She stared at me, still looking confused. "Where are the others?" She asked.

"Dan and Aneisha are fine, their with Stella" I said. "What about Tom?" Keri asked. "He's still unconscious" I said. "He was blown back in the explosion and we think substance X14 got in his system".

"Will he be alright?" Keri asked. "I don't know" I sighed.

(Keri's POV)

Suddenly there was a bump, and everything jolted. "Whoa! What was that?" I asked.

"Oh we're in the ambulance" Frank said. "It was probably just a bump in the road". "Oh okay" I said. When we got to the hospital I briefly saw Tom.

He looked awful, and he was still unconscious.

Then I was wheeled away on the bed and put in a room. I was alone for a while, but then Tom was brought in.

A few nurses came in and out, but then we were alone. Even though I had been told to stay in bed, I got up and walked over to Tom.

Suddenly Aneisha, Dan, Frank and Stella burst through the door. "Keri!" Frank said. "Get back into bed now".

Stella led me back to my bed, whilst the others went over to Tom. "Please wake up" Aneisha said.

We must have been sitting there in silence for about twenty minutes, when Tom's head started moving. "Tom?" Frank said, jumping up. "What...What is it?" Tom muttered.

"We thought we lost you" Aneisha said, pulling him into a hug. "Are you all okay?" Tom asked.

"Yeah we're fine" Dan said. "Are you?" I asked. "I think so" Tom said. "I'm just a bit tired, and my head hurts".

Frank quickly told this to the doctor and he said that if Tom and I didn't feel any worse for the rest of the day, we could go home.

The doctor would continue to do tests on the remainder of X14 and see what the effects were.


	5. Chapter 5

(1 week later)

(Dan's POV)

I walked into school and stared at my surroundings. There were groups of chatting school pupils everywhere.

Since the explosion, neither Tom, Aneisha, Keri or I, had been allowed to come to school.

"Dan!". I heard my name and turned to see Keri walking towards me. "Hi" I said. "How are you?". "I'm okay" Keri replied. "What about you?".

"I'm fine" I said. "Just a bit shaken up. Have you seen the others?" I asked. "Aneisha's at her locker now, but I haven't seen Tom" Keri said.

We went into the school building to find Aneisha, and as Keri said, she was at her locker. "Neish, have you seen Tom?" I asked. "No, sorry" Aneisha said.

"Why, do you think somethings wrong?". "No" I said. "I just wanted to see if he was okay".

Then we all went to our first lesson. Maths.

I wasn't too worried before, but now that Aneisha had mentioned something being wrong with Tom, I couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

(No Ones POV)

Tom walked slowly into the classroom just before maths began.

"Look! There he is" Aneisha said, running over to him. "Are you alright?"

She asked. "Yeah I'm fine" Tom mumbled, not wanting to make a scene.

Truth be told, Tom was not fine.

He had an awful headache, and his throat was burning.

Tom walked over to his desk, almost tripping over a chair in the process.

He sat down at his desk and closed his eyes.

The other agents looked at him for a minute. Tom didn't seem himself, and he looked unnaturally pale.

(Aneisha's POV)

During maths, Tom sat in silence at the front of the class.

For someone who usually finds maths easy, something didn't seem right.

When break time came around, Dan, Keri and I made our way to the canteen and sat down at our usual table.

"Where's Tom?" I asked. "I haven't seen him since break started" Keri said. "He might have gone down to the base".

Whilst Dan and Keri went to their lockers, I went down to HQ to see if Tom was there.

As the lift doors opened, I saw Tom sitting on a chair, leaning against the round table in the base.

He was asleep, and as I walked up to him, I realised something must be wrong.

He was very pale, and there was a horrible, wheezing noise whenever he breathed. I shook him gently, and he slowly woke up.

"Tom?" I whispered. "Mmm, what is it Neish?" Tom mumbled. "Are you sure your alright?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm fine" said Tom, sounding slightly agitated. I knew that he hadn't been getting much sleep since the accident, so I decided to leave him on his own for a while.

I left HQ and went to find Dan and Keri.

I was sure that something was wrong with Tom, and I was certain that it was something to do with the explosion.

(Tom's POV)

I left HQ a few minutes after Aneisha and immediately made my way to the toilets. My head was spinning now, and I felt like I was going to be sick.

I splashed water on my face and stared at myself in the mirror.

"Get it together Tom" I told myself. All I wanted to do was go home, but suddenly my pencil started flashing.

I ran as fast as I could to the caretakers store cupboard (which wasn't very fast) and scanned my finger in.

As the lift went down I felt even worse than I had before.

The doors opened and I walked into HQ. The others were already standing at the desk, and I could feel them all staring at me as I went over to join them.

Dan, Aneisha and Keri were being sent on a field mission to listen into a meeting between to government leaders, who were suspected to be up to no good.

Since it was pretty straight forward, I was staying in HQ. Thank goodness, because I wouldn't have lasted five minutes on the field.

"Right team" Frank said. "I have to go and see Stella at M.I.9, so you'll be working on your own on this one".

"We'll be fine" Dan said, as he and the others left HQ.


	6. Chapter 6

(Tom's POV)

About ten minutes after the rest of the team had left the base, the lights started to flicker above my head.

Suddenly the lightbulbs started to spark and I had to dive for cover.

I hit my head on the desk, and my head started spinning again.

As I got up, I could feel myself swaying as I stood.

Then all the lights went out. I hadn't heard anything from Keri, Dan or Aneisha yet, so I decided to try and fix the lights.

I called Frank (seeing as his cover job was a caretaker) and told him about the situation.

"Right Tom" Frank said. "You'll need to stand on a chair to reach the ceiling, but to see what you are doing, you will need a light source.

There should be some candles and matches in the file cabinet next to the desk".

(Nobody's POV)

Tom struck a match and lit a candle.

Holding it in his hand, he stood up on a chair and started to unscrew a lightbulb. Frank told Tom everything he needed to do, and went back to his meeting with Stella.

Tom moved the chair and continued to fix the lighting. "Tom?" Dan said from over the communicator.

"Yep, I'm here" Tom said, forgetting about the lights for a minute.

"If you continue going down the corridor you are in for ten metres then take two lefts and one right, you should be outside the room the two government leaders are in".

"Okay, thanks Tom" Dan said. Tom got back on the chair and started to unscrew the next lightbulb, leaving the candle on the desk below.

All of a sudden, a wave of nausea came over Tom, and he started shaking.

He could hear a noise coming over the communicator, but he couldn't tell who it was. His vision went blurry and he passed out.

He hit the table as he fell, and knocked the lit candle off and onto the floor.

As Tom lay unconscious on the floor of HQ, Keri's voice came through the communicator.

"Tom? Tom?" She said. "Tom, are you there?".

The flames from the candle started to spread across the floor, and Tom was in serious danger.


End file.
